Second Sunday of Lent

03-08-2020Weekly ReflectionFather Prince Raja

Welcome to 2nd Sunday of Lent! The gospel reading of Ash Wednesday, proposed a program for the spiritual journey of the season of Lent: fasting, prayer and almsgiving. These three 'strategies' are relevant not only for the season of Lent, but throughout our Christian life. The season of Lent is but an intense way of living out our Christian life. Therefore fasting, prayer and almsgiving are ways to go beyond ourselves, extend our hearts to God, and to stretch out our hands to our neighbors. These two dimensions of our Christian life journey are like going up the mountain and coming down it.

The common theme of today's readings is transformation. The first reading describes the transformation of a pagan patriarch into a believer in the one God. His name will be transformed from Abram to Abraham and his small family into a great nation. All Abram has to do is to obey the Lord God's command, and he does so. The second reading, taken from St. Paul's second letter to Timothy, explains the type of Lenten transformation expected of us. We are transformed when we recognize the hand of a loving, providing and disciplining God behind all our hardships, pain and suffering and try our best to grow in holiness by cooperating with the grace of God given to us through Jesus and his Gospel. The Gospel of today gives us the beautiful story of Transfiguration. Matthew tells us that Jesus took with him his three beloved disciples Peter, James and John to a high Mountain, apart and in their presence he was transfigured.

When he was transfigured before them, his face shone like the Sun and his garments became white as snow. Moses the greatest law giver and Elijah the greatest prophet of Israel come to the side of Jesus and talk to him about his passion and death. For Jesus this was a special moment. He was now close to Jerusalem and hence close to his passion and death by crucifixion. This was the important moment when he had to strengthen his disciples particularly the ones who had been chosen to be close to him during his ministry. Jesus wanted his sonship to be revealed to them with the voice of the Father telling them that Jesus is his Beloved Son in whom he is well pleased and they ought to listen to him.

In the Transfiguration story, Jesus is revealed as a glorious figure, superior to Moses and Elijah. The primary purpose of Jesus' Transfiguration was to allow Him to consult His Heavenly Father in order to ascertain His plan for His Son's suffering, death and Resurrection. The secondary aim was to make his chosen disciples aware of His Divine glory, so that they might discard their worldly ambitions and dreams of a conquering political Messiah and might be strengthened in their time of trial. On the mountain, Jesus is identified by the Heavenly Voice as the Son of God. Thus, the transfiguration narrative is a Christophany, that is, a manifestation or revelation of Who Jesus really is. So, today let us pray for wisdom and humility. A disciple of Jesus is called to follow him in wisdom and in humility: in the wisdom which claims the truth we can see, in the humility which admits that there are other truths that we cannot see. Both wisdom and humility are necessary.